
In response to these needs, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) developed the FlexHousing and Healthy Housing concepts used in Home 2000's design. It's an affordable, durable, healthy and environmentally conscious home that is designed to change easily as the lifestyle of its occupants change.
Using off-the-shelf technology, a flexible design, and health-conscious, high quality building practices, Home 2000 shows you how to create a home in which you can be comfortable for life.
FlexHousing: Adapts to Your Needs
If you never want to move again, FlexHousing design is for you. It's a new and innovative approach to housing design developed by CMHC.
FlexHousing responds to the needs of today's families, which contract and expand as single-parent households become blended families, adult children leave home, and aging parents move in with the younger generation.
It's design that supports independent living for senior citizens and people with disabilities. It's design for life. The key to flexible housing design is to think about what your long-term requirements may be before you build or renovate, and to then build in the necessary features during construction. As your lifestyle changes, your home can then be easily and inexpensively adapted to suit your needs. Adding the right features now can save you time and money later, and help you avoid the heartache and inconvenience of leaving a neighbourhood you've come to know and love.
For example, in Home 2000, space was effectively pre-planned so that a large, single bedroom could become two rooms. Wide doorways and hallways make it easy to move furniture in and out, give the home an open, airy feel, and make it possible for a wheelchair to maneuver should a family member ever need one.
In the kitchen, a simple upgrade to the sink counter ensures that it can be used safely and comfortably by anyone - short or tall. One of the home's most exciting FlexHousing features is its floor plan it can convert from a four- bedroom, single family home to a code-compliant duplex with two bedrooms per unit. Creative pre-planning of the mechanical and electrical systems means that the air supplies to each duplex suite are separateodours and fires can't travel. It also means that the suites are relatively soundproof. The house is designed to follow a family throughout its entire lifecycle. Young homeowners can rent out one suite as a mortgage helper, then reclaim the house as their family grows . When adult children head to university, they can offer them the suite, and later still, can use it to supplement their retirement income. With FlexHousing there are as many possibilities as there are living arrangements.